The 24th in the San Luis Valley

I took a break from my summer babysitting job and headed to Colorado for Pioneer Days in the San Luis Valley. I didn't originally plan on going but after finding out several members of my family were going, Sarah and I decided to make the trip. It was a good decision too because it was wonderful! I had a really amazing time hanging out with cousins and enjoying the Pioneer Day celebration.

We got an early start on Thursday so we could get home for a family BBQ at the Sanford Park to celebrate my Grandma's 85th birthday. I don't have any pictures to document but we were very pleased with the turnout from extended family to support my wonderful grandma. It ended with a very intense game of HORSE with my cousins where I thoroughly embarrassed myself my missing almost every shot I took! I made up for it later though.

Friday we decided to start off the day in Manassa. I had never really looked at the Jack Dempsey Museum so we did that and caught the parade as well.

Sarah, Dad, my cousin Katelyn and I then headed to the mountains for some 4-wheeling. We went up past Antonito to a gorgeous spot where we took turns riding the ATV, playing the guitar, eating our body weight in sunflower seeds, and throwing around a baseball.

 

I then apparently decided the day just wasn't adventurous enough. I made a quick split second decision to load the 4-wheeler into the truck even though it was at a bad angle and crashed it into the back of the truck bed, hard too. Everyone, including me, expected to see me either flying over the top of the truck head first or smashing into the back window and shattering it. Luckily that didn't happen but I put a nice dent into my dad's beautiful truck. Tempers flew for a bit and we had an awkward ride home but my dad of course forgave my stupidity. The story was shared with everyone which didn't help me forget but at least I can now laugh at it. Later I then met up with my best friend for Mexican food and the Dark Knight Rises. My heart also goes out to all those involved in the Aurora shooting. We were a little hesitant to see that movie that night but everything was fine. There was however, an officer that stood by the emergency exit in the theater the whole time. 

Saturday we enjoyed the Pioneer Celebration to the fullest. We watched the parade, hit up the hamburger stand, went to the rodeo, and the demolition derby.

It was nice spending time with cousins who I don't regularly see, especially when we are in a place we all love and have great memories of growing up at. 

Sunday we enjoyed our last full day together. We went to church to hear my dad give a talk, enjoyed a family dinner (adults inside and kids outside of course), visited the family graves at the cemetery, finally searched the old house we were always told was haunted, went on more ATV rides, and watched the best finale of The Bachelorette  EVER! It was a fantastic day.

Everyone left Monday morning but Sarah and I stayed one more day to attend Whitney's Bridal Shower! It was really fun and hilarious. Thank you to those who put it all together so we could go while we were in town! Whitney should be all set for the wedding now with presents and amazing wedding and wedding night advice :)

Tuesday we drove the long 10 hours back to Utah totally exhausted but thankful for the wonderful trip and memories. Other memorable events include:

Having 10 and sometimes 11 people staying at our house with only 1 bathroom

Watching how much everyone, especially the kids loved the "wild" kitties

Having everyone at the house and bringing back memories of when we were younger

Going home a consecutive three times without being pulled over/getting a ticket

Being home without getting extremely sunburned

Being able to feel like a kid again. I don't think I've laughed so hard in a long time!

All in all, it was a very fun and successful trip. We have so many memories in La Jara being at Grandpa and Grandma Miller's house so it's wonderful that my parents are now in the house and we can go back and create even more memories.

First Vacation of the Summer

I thought once school was out, I would be so much better at blogging. Turns out I'm not. This happened 2 weeks ago and I'm just now getting to it. Oh well, there's hope for the rest of the summer!
Anyway...
The day after school got out I booked it home to Colorado for a much needed vacation. This was the 2nd time going home in 2 months so I was very excited. When I was home for Spring Break I spent a lot of time at home lounging around due to the weather but this time was completely opposite and I was hardly ever home. The first two days were spent helping my friend's family with their cows. Besides getting sunburned really bad, battling the stupid mosquitoes, and getting cow poop on me, it was kind of fun. I haven't worked cows in quite awhile since my family sold all ours several years ago so it was nice going back to my roots and getting my hands dirty.
One of the most memorable experiences happened Tuesday. Let's just say 3 girls being in charge of rounding up cows by themselves turned out to be quite the ordeal. We were bound and determined to do it quickly and correctly but unfortunately we ran into some trouble. We got a four wheeler stuck in a ditch, and I mean REALLY stuck, and then had some trouble getting a couple of calves into the corral. For those of you unfamiliar with herding cows you should know that it's nearly impossible to herd calves once they are separated from their mothers and that's what happened to us. It all turned out ok in the end but it was frustrating as heck at the time. We were even more mad when it only took a few minutes for my friend's brother to get the four wheeler out. Later on in the mountains we were running late and needed to be in town for something but had an incident with a trailer. We thought we hitched it up correctly but it turned out we did not and we looked behind us in time to see it pop off, spin around, and crash into the barpit in a cloud of dust. Luckily it was still in one piece! We did not make it to town after that. By the end of the day I was dirty, smelly, and even more sunburned. We were glad to be done and now wished someone had filmed us because it definitely would have been hilarious to watch.

The other days were spent hanging out around the old homestead,

going to Zapata Falls and the Sand Dunes,

 eating at Campus Cafe as well as my favorite Mexican restaurants,

and spending lots of time with my amazing family. I got to spend some great time with my Grandma Miller which I really enjoyed. I of course spent time with my little sister and parents as well. 

One of the big things that happened while I was home was my baby sister getting engaged! We are very happy for her and can't wait for her upcoming wedding in August. Her fiance also did a pretty good job on the ring if I do say so myself.

Being home was really great and I am so glad I got to do it. I love being home and around the people that love and support me the most. Now I am back into the grind and working through the summer. I don't have any more vacations planned at the moment but by goal this summer was to have fun, sporadic trips here and there so hopefully they come soon!

April Wrap Up

Keeping in accordance with the weather, April has been a month of ups and downs. I've had some really great teaching days and some really bad ones. Luckily I was able to have a few breaks to keep me sane.

The first week up of April was Spring Break. I don't think I've ever wanted to go home more, just to get away from work and Utah. I had big plans of golfing everyday, eating without thinking about calories or working out, watching too much tv, and spending time with family. I accomplished all of those things except for golfing. I forgot how temperamental the Spring is in the San Luis Valley. One day the wind blew REALLY hard. So hard in fact that the power was out for a couple of hours when someone's roof flew off their house and hit a power line. Another day it snowed. Other days were just too busy so I only got to the golf course once. I did get to spend a lot of time with my family though which was the main goal. This included helping Whitney move and going down to Old Town Santa Fe. I hadn't been there for a very long time so it was cool to see it. We had fun eating delicious Mexican food, walking through shops, looking at the Indian jewelry, and walking through the old churches.

I loved the spiral staircase at the Loretto Chapel. It doesn't have any supports and the banister wasn't added until later. I wanted to climb it really bad but that wasn't allowed unfortunately.

It was hard to get back into the swing of things after Spring Break but I got to use a couple of my personal days I had saved up which helped a lot. One day was spent playing 27 holes of golf with my friend and fellow teacher Kristen. The weather was great too. Another personal day was set aside for mountain biking but the weather was bad and I woke up sick. Still, I didn't have to teach that day so staying home watching movies was still a good break. 

Despite the breaks, I did work a lot in April as well. Some days were awesome, a couple in particular where I LOVED my job. Other days were hard which is normal. I also had the worst day I've had all year and that is when I cried during one of my double classes. Cried! I was embarrassed and never thought it would happen but it did. Multiple students were especially rude and disrespectful that day. I got really frustrated and started lecturing which turned into yelling and eventually crying. I must say though that it was the quietest I had ever seen that class. I got lots of apologies and teachers brought students down to talk to me so maybe it will turn into a positive thing. We will see how it goes tomorrow. At least they know their actions have consequences and that teachers do have feelings now. 

As difficult as this year has been, there have also been some really great moments, days, and even weeks. I can't believe my first year of teaching is almost over. I have just one month left!

The House That Built Me

This past Friday night I got to go to the Miranda Lambert concert here in Salt Lake. Let me just say that I LOVE Miranda! She is one of my favorite country artists and I love her country twang when she sings and the emotion she puts into her songs. I left the concert feeling very proud to be a strong, independent, small town, country girl!

These aren't the greatest pictures ever but at least it's proof I was there:

 Some of my favorite moments from the night:

• Miranda saying she wrote the song "Baggage Claim" in a state of being PISSED OFF!
• Realizing how much more down to earth and real country singers are then other celebrities
• All the mentions of her hillbilly or hick a** husband Blake Shelton :)
• The feeling of confidence I got and being able to relate to her through her songs
• Her singing "The House That Built Me"

In fact, "The House That Built Me" is probably one of my top 5 favorite country songs of all time and is my inspiration for this next section of this blog. (If you are not familiar with the words then you should first read them here).

I have spring break in 2 weeks and get to go home for an entire week to the good 'ol San Luis Valley and to the house that built me. Almost two years ago my parents moved into my grandparents house and the house my father was raised in. I've had mixed emotions about this move over these past years. It's hard leaving the place you were raised in and have so many memories. It's like the song says, I can't go home again but there are times I long to go back just to see it one more time and relive the memories. It's also hard going home to La Jara instead of Alamosa. For those who are unfamiliar with the area, let me fill you in. Alamosa is where I lived almost my entire life. It's the "city" of the valley and at least has a movie theater, Wal-Mart, bowling ally, several restaurants, and a population of about 10,000. La Jara has a population of under 1000 and has no stoplights. There are maybe 3 places to eat and 1 grocery store. As barren as it is, I've learned to love it.

Just recently I've discovered that where my parents live now is still home and a place that I never lived, but was still raised. This is a house that I hold very dear to my heart. It is here that my small town, country girl roots sprout from. It is where I learned to ride a horse, drive a tractor, brand a cow, siphon water from a ditch to irrigate, shoot a gun, and discover the enjoyment in climbing a hay stack. It is where I learned how to work, get back up onto a horse after falling off, correctly white wash a fence or wash windows, fix a fence, and get cows back into the field. More importantly, it is where I've gained a love for my ancestors and where I come from; where I've learned how important family is and how much I love them. It is where I'm proud to be from and constantly long to go back to (well, visit anyway :) ).

This is the House that Built Me:

 

I also miss my old house where I was raised very much. My parents moved right when this song came out and it made me cry several times thinking about not going home to the house I grew up in. But going to this concert and listening to Miranda sing it this time, has helped me realize that I still get to go home. I've never technically lived there, but it is the house that built me!

Viva Las Vegas!

Have I mentioned how much I love teaching because of all the breaks you get?!! I will never be able to go back to a job where you only have 2 weeks off a year. This past week I had a 4 day weekend. Monday was MLK day of course but the Friday before, we had off just to have off. Apparently elementary schools have to align with secondary schools who ended their term so we had the day off. It was called a recess day. Although I don't fully understand it, I'm not questioning it! So having a 4 day weekend usually means some sort of road trip for me and this time is was LAS VEGAS!
I know I don't live that far away from it, but I must admit that this was my first time visiting Vegas. I've driven through several times but never went down to the strip or anything. I went with my good friend Kristen who has been several times since her brother and his family live there and I don't think I could have gone with anyone better who would have shown me a true Vegas experience :)

We walked through the Bellagio and saw the botanical gardens,

then saw several of the fountain shows.

 

We walked a little of the strip as well. There were some interesting conferences and events going on this weekend but we managed to avoid most of the creepers. 

 

We had a delicious breakfast buffet that messed my stomach up for the rest of the day Friday (surprise, surprise), played some bingo, and spent plenty of time in the casinos. I think I only lost about $10 :). I have pretty good self control but can definitely see how gambling is addicting. Getting a bonus or free spins on a slot machine was very satisfying and I wanted to just try one more! I did win my money back a few times at least.

Saturday night was the highlight of the trip for me. You can't go to Vegas without hitting up a show and we decided to see Celine Dion. My friend Kristen is a huge fan and has seen her several times. I'm not as big a fan but am not ashamed to say I love me some Celine as well. We did have to wait in the stand-by line for a couple of hours but it was definitely worth it. The show was awesome and made me even more excited and anxious to see Titanic in 3D!!

We also hit up the outlet malls, ate at the very delicious Capriotti's sandwich shop, and stayed up way later than I normally do. It was a wonderful trip and I'm glad I was able to go. Now it's back to work for a long 5 weeks before another day off, but who is counting? :)

Work Update

I haven't written about work lately so I thought I'd give a little update. Overall, it's been going really well. For the past month, I've been teaching the older kids basketball. It has been very fulfilling watching them improve and get better each time. I'm constantly impressed how quickly kids pick up on things. Other teachers keep telling me how fun it is watching their students play basketball on the playground and to see how excited they are about it. Then today, one class wanted to do soccer really bad for their free day so we did. I then had students coming in all throughout the day asking to borrow a soccer ball to take out to recess. This is why I teach. I still have some extremely tough days and hard classes but at least I know I'm getting through to them!

Christmas 2011

I know Christmas was over 2 weeks ago so I figured I better blog about it before I forgot what I did! I don't want to bore anyone with a long description of the 10 days I was home so I'll just cover the highlights.

Colorado had a nice snowstorm just before I headed home so we were able to have a white Christmas which was awesome.

A couple of weeks before the break, I found out my car wouldn't last much longer. So on Christmas Eve I went out and bought myself a nice Christmas present, a car! It's a 2010 Hyundai Elantra and I love it.

I loved having Christmas on Sunday. It was a nice reminder of why we celebrate it. 

We took our time opening presents too. We didn't start until after church so we were done opening them at 4 pm. It was fun taking our time and enjoying the reactions of others.

The rest of the break was spent sleeping in, shooting guns, riding the ATV, watching movies, and eating WAY too much food. I enjoyed spending time with family and finally having time to completely relax and not worry about teaching. But now it's back to the real world and hoping 2012 will be another good year!